[jbrody44]

Hi again everyone. In today's episode of fix the Supra we have a noisy A/C compressor or belt. It makes a scraping kind of a noise while the car is running but goes away when I switch the A/C on. The belt feels like I have it tensioned kind of hard. Could I have it tensioned too much? Or is my compressor crapping out? Any thoughts are greatlt appreciated. Thanks - Jason B

 

[zank]

Yea my 84 does that too, every now and then

 

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

I'm not an expert here, but I would guess that the compressor's clutch is not disengaging all the way, kinda like a sticky brake caliper would do. Could be doing this because of the belt being too tight and putting a little too much tension on the clutch ass'y or just the clutch going. Try loosening the belt a bit to see if it goes away w/o squealing like a pig when you turn it on. If the noise is still there, replace the clutch (or is that even possible w/the Supra compressors???)
Good luck!
Chris

 

[Dave A.]

Most likely it's the A/C compressor clutch acting up. The rubber hub on the clutch can sometimes deteriorate and change the width of the air gap between the two plates of the clutch. The clutch is a repairable/replaceable part. I'm not sure on the price tag though. Try loosening the belt some first as mentioned above and see if that does the trick.